1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clinical specimen processing apparatus and clinical specimen processing system, and more specifically relates to clinical specimen processing apparatus and clinical specimen processing system which can be connected to a maintenance management device over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic analyzers are known which process measurement time-courses and measurement results, or analyzer abnormalities and measurement operation abnormalities in electronic mail, which is then transmitted to a predetermined destination (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-308737).
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-308737 discloses an automatic analyzer which normally transmits measurement time-courses and measurement results in electronic mail with a predetermined timing to a predetermined destination, such as a personal computer or the like used by the user of the analyzer, and which, when an abnormality occurs in the analyzer, rapidly transmits data representing the content of the device abnormality in an electronic mail to the predetermined destination, such as a users personal computer, without waiting for the predetermined timing. In this way the user of the automatic analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-308737 is quickly made aware of the abnormality when an abnormality occurs in the automatic analyzer.
Also known are blood smear preparation apparatuses which prepare smear specimens of blood samples, and blood corpuscle analyzers (blood analyzers) which analyze blood samples for the number of blood corpuscles, hematocrit, hemoglobin or the like. In these clinical specimen processing apparatuses, adjustments are required when components gradually deteriorate with use. For example, normal operations cannot be performed when a component deteriorates, which necessitates halting the operation of the apparatus for component replacement and adjustment. In the art of the aforesaid patent publication, the user or the like is notified of the abnormal condition of the apparatus.
Since component deterioration generally progresses gradually, the operation of the apparatus may be within a tolerance range (‘tolerance condition’ hereafter) for some time, but the specimen processing results may be affected because the apparatus is not operating normally up until the previously mentioned abnormality occurs. When an apparatus in this tolerance condition is used continuously, the operational performance also continues inexorably until an abnormality occurs, at which point the operation of the apparatus must be stopped. If one is aware of the tolerance condition of the apparatus, it is possible to perform apparatus maintenance and parts replacement before the abnormality occurs, so as to reduce the number of times the operation of the apparatus must be stopped, although art for detecting the tolerance condition of the apparatus is not disclosed in the aforesaid patent publication.